Studying fungi to keep space travelers safe on new worlds

Human presence in closed habitats that may one day be used to explore other planets is associated with changes in the composition of the fungal community -- the mycobiome -- that grows on surfaces inside the habitat, according to a study published in the open access journal Microbiome.

Dr Kasthuri Venkateswaran, Senior Research Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, and corresponding author of the study said: "Our study is the first report on the mycobiome of a simulated habitat meant for the future human habitation of other planets. We used the Inflatable Lunar/Mars Analog Habitat (ILMAH), a unique, simulated closed environment that mimics the conditions found on the International Space Station and possible human habitats on other planets. We showed that the overall fungal diversity changed when humans were present."

The researchers found that certain kinds of fungi -- including known pathogens that can colonize the human body and cause allergies, asthma and skin infections -- increased in number while humans were living inside the ILMAH. Prolonged stays in closed habitats might be stressful for inhabitants and thus lead to decreased immune response, making people more vulnerable to opportunistic pathogens like fungi.

Dr Venkateswaran said: "Fungi are extremophiles that can survive harsh conditions and environments like deserts, caves or nuclear accident sites, and they are known to be difficult to eradicate from other environments including indoor and closed spaces. Characterizing and understanding possible changes to, and survival of, fungal species in environments like the ILMAH is of high importance since fungi are not only potentially hazardous to the inhabitants but could also deteriorate the habitats themselves."

Knowing how fungal communities change in the presence of humans is thus necessary for the development of appropriate countermeasures to maintain habitats like the ILMAH or the ISS and to protect the health of the people who live there.

The primary goal of the ILMAH was to understand the physiological, psychological, and behavioral changes in humans in a confined environment. Three student crews were housed inside the ILMAH for 30 days. In order to determine which fungal species were present and how the composition of the mycobiome changed during human habitation, samples collected at various time points in a 30-day period were characterized. The ILMHA was completely isolated from the outside world, except for the exchange of filtered air between the indoor and outdoor environments. Crew members were given a weekly work schedule which included cleaning the habitat and collecting surface samples.

Samples were collected from eight sampling locations at four time-points; just before habitation and at 13, 20 and 30 days of habitation. The habitat was cleaned weekly with antibacterial wipes. The researchers gene sequenced the samples to show which species of fungus were present and to determine the total (alive and dead) and viable (alive and able to reproduce) fungal populations.

They showed that the diversity of the mycobiome and the levels of different fungal populations changed during the duration of the experiment. For example, populations of Cladosporium cladosporioides -- a common outdoor fungus -- increased. While C. cladosporioides rarely causes infections in humans, it could cause asthmatic reactions especially in individuals with weakened immune systems, such as astronauts.

Dr Venkateswaran said: "In-depth knowledge of the viable mycobiome will allow the development of required maintenance and cleaning procedures in a closed habitat like ILMAH and also prevent it from deteriorating and becoming a health hazards to its inhabitants. However, to be able to show that increased fungal diversity is a result of human presence, the mycobiome of the occupants will also need to be studied."

Story Source:

Materials provided by BioMed Central. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

First, as for the global residential Brass Rods industry, the industry concentration rate is highly dispersed. The top 5 manufacturers have 30.61% sales revenue market share in 2017. The Wieland which has 7.62% sales market share in 2017, is the leader in the Brass Rods industry. The manufacturers following Wieland are Daechang and KME, which respectively has 6.51% and 6.46% sales market share globally.
Browse Related Reports:
Global Brass Rods Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022
Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Brass Rods Market 2017 Forecast to 2022
Second, the global consumption of Brass Rods products rises up from 2380 K Ton in 2012 to 2840 K Ton in 2017, with CAGR of 4.52%. At the same time, the revenue of world Brass Rods sales market has a rise from 11807.52 M USD to 13683.32 M USD. The reason causes this increase is the growing demand for the Brass Rods products, which is the result of the spurring needs of downstream customers, especially for Automobile.
Third, as for the Brass Rods market, it will still show slow growth, and technological trends in the market will stay stable.
Fourth, market growth for Brass Rods is expected to growth at a CAGR of 3.17% from 2017 to 2022, reaching 16567.95 M USD by 2022.
GLOBAL INFO RESEARCH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Contact us:
Tel:00852-58197708 (HK)
Email:sales@globalinforesearch.com